Councillors approved the 2020 Vision for Joint Working report, which will see the councils using a jointly-owned authority company set up to provide services.

Deputy leader Mark Booty said there would be no redundancies but retiring staff may be replaced through job-sharing roles instead.

He said: “In a council we have 10 per cent staff turnover for people going into the private sector because we’re a great training ground.

“If a person leaves and someone can do it as a job share rather than be replaced immediately from the outside then that is what we will do. So there’s not a job loss as such but there’s a post reduction.”

Mr Booty said staff were already prepared for the changes after pooling some resources with Cotswold District Council over the past five years.

Services that will now be shared include legal advice, management, back office support, waste collection, environment services, and auditing. Staff taking on extra responsibilities may be given pay rises to compensate.